The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel In Two Semesters by Chip Kidd (2001)

Things I love about this book

• The title. Cheese! And monkeys.
• The story. I don’t know how autobiographical it is (if at all), but if it is, Kidd is brilliant for being able to capture the aesthetic of the world of art students, and it it’s not, Kidd is brilliant for being able to make this shit up
• The characters. Himillsy Dodd and Winter Sorbeck are two of the best characters in fiction, ever
• The design. Since Chip Kidd actually is a graphic designer, it’s only fitting that he’d design the book in addition to writing it. The pages have nice fat margins, the thank-yous are printed in teeny text on the edges of the front and back covers, and, my favorite part – halfway through the book, the font changes from Apollo to Bodoni (precisely at the moment where we first meet Sorbeck). It’s a really unique way, and one only a designer would come up with, to show how the narrator’s life changes as a result of meeting someone like Winter
• So yeah, it’s pretty much my new favorite book

‘On the first day of class, the Visual Arts building reclined before me like an old brick whore, egging me to show her one, last, good time’ (21)

‘Referring to a teacher by her first name was odd enough. A nickname seemed like nudity’ (23)

‘Yes, Garnett Grey was an Architect. Were a psychoanalyst to approach him from behind, tap his shoulder, and say, “Humanity,” Garnett’d spin and respond, without hesitation, “Solvable.”’ (79)

‘Behind the Registrar’s window #6 sat a jowlish brunette in her late forties with a jones for Mary-Janes and hairpins. “Audry” was stenciled on her nametag. Not easy on the eyes – compared to Audry, Nikita Khrushchev was an airline hostess’ (91)

‘His hair was sandy colored, in a shade which reminded you that sand was also dirt’ (97)

And pretty much everything Winter Sorbeck says is golden:

‘Let me guess, your parents were twins’ (143)
[I seriously have to use that in everyday conversations with stupid people from now on.]

‘Never fall in love with an idea. They’re whores: if the one you’re with isn’t doing the job, there’s always, always, always another’ (144)

‘Limits are possibilities… you want the world as your palette. But beware: You can be crippled by too many choices, especially if you don’t know what your goals are’ (159)

And Himillsy:

‘I wouldn’t piss down his throat if his heart was on fire’ (201)

(She’s less quotable than Sorbeck, but just as memorable – I wouldn’t be doing her justice to quote her out of context, because her actions are just as weirdly wonderful as are the things she says.)